Neil Gaiman’s A Short Film About John Bolton
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: B-
Neil Gaiman is one of the most interesting, innovative,
sincere and talented writers and artists in all of Horror and Fantasy. He has proven this with his classic British
TV series Neverwhere (reviewed elsewhere on this site) to the building
following for Mirrormask (covered a few places on this site), so when he
decides to call attention to an artist he likes, it should be interesting
indeed. Neil Gaiman’s A Short Film
About John Bolton does not disappoint, as he takes in the latest erotic
horror creations by Mr. Bolton, who has an uncanny ability to combine deeply
sexual female nude images with dark vampiric ones.
The main program is only 30 minutes, but it is always
interesting and compelling, though likely smart enough to know how long it can
cover the subject without getting more personal than Mr. Bolton might
like. However, it does show that the
mutual admiration comes from kindred imaginations that would typically be
censored by a conformity that is not helping our society in general in a way
that more than ever wants to suppress the different and free thought in general
by labeling some ideas as “dangerous”.
All that makes the program worth a look.
The letterboxed 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 image is a little softer
than would be desired for a film about unique paintings, but is watchable. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is better,
though it does not have any surrounds, typical of most documentaries. Extras include a making of program, a live
evening with Gaiman, audio commentary track by Gaiman and actor Marcus
Brigstocke, text biographies, Bolton stills gallery and audio clip of Gaiman
reading Drawn In Darkness from his Harlequin Valentine graphic
novel. That is yet another interesting
project with Gaiman’s involvement and the extras fill out the disc well without
being padding we get too often on DVD.
We look forward to more from Gaiman soon.
- Nicholas Sheffo
